5-10-2020 Engaged to Holiness 1 Peter 1:13-17
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Today is Mother’s day!
Today might be my favorite part of this mini-series because of my own experience of YHWH's Word working in my life, and I've really been looking forward to sharing this with you. We been talking about this concept that can be vague when the Bible commands us to be holy. What is expected of me? How exactly do I respond to that? There are a couple of ways to look at this which we’ve been exploring the teaching of it in 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 13 to 17. We’ve explored in the first sermon a couple weeks back about holiness being a Person—being separated to Jesus, the Christ, as our identification. Living the right kind of life is not what you don't do, or what you're separated from—that really doesn't define anything; rather, it is what you are separated to.
Then last week we talked about a position that YHWH puts us in: holiness. Also, that we should look into the mirror of God's Word and properly see: this is who YHWH says I am! Remind yourself who you are to be who you are. And this morning, we are going to see that holiness is a process.
So a quick recap:
2 weeks ago: identification
last week: justification — God imputing His righteousness to us, and
Today, we’ll use the word sanctification (which also has that root word of holiness - hagias)
Sanctification is theological, but understand it simply means the process of growth. From the day that you became a Christian until the time that you're in heaven is the process of God working in your life to conform you and mold you into the likeness of His Son and, today, you're not finished yet—you still have work to do to the day you die. The Lord is continuing to work in you in powerful ways.
Transition:
So we moved from this realization that YHWH has declared me righteous/holy. His Son chose me/elected/special, but I don't feel that way. About every morning, I wake up and argue myself back to what I know is true and cast aside how I feel. If I keep thinking about how I feel, and looking into those distorted mirrors of a false reality, and not looking into the perfect law of liberty—the Bible, then the world really begins to shape my life in the wrong way. So my prayer is that this morning as we look at the same passage and others that feed into to the context of it, I hope that this becomes life-changing for you.
Scripture Reading:
1 Peter 1:13–17
Therefore, when you have prepared your minds for action by being self-controlled, put your hope completely in the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former desires you used to conform to in your ignorance, but as the one who called you is holy, you yourselves be holy in all your conduct, for it is written, “You will be holy, because I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves with fear during the time of your temporary residence,
The theme throughout this passage is the call of the Christian to grow, to mature— a.k.a. sanctification--continually being set apart day by day. It is progressive by nature unlike what we saw last week with our position which is an instantaneous change. Sanctification is ongoing until we get to heaven. Holiness is, therefore, an engagement--it is when you get engaged in the process. Newer cars have automatic clutches, but I LOVE stick-shifts —Mary knows that, Eldon knows that. I think many Christians try to drive around with the clutch pedal all the way down. Of course, you have power but you don't get anywhere when you're not engaged in a gear. God wants us to be engaged in the gear/the process of becoming holy.
Transition:
So first I want us to consider the challenge we face. In verse 13, Peter assumes that you’ve already prepared your minds for action, by being sober in spirit—self controlled. So we face a challenge:
I. The Challenge We Face
I. The Challenge We Face
We face it from the outside, and we face it from the inside. From the outside, is the conflict that we walk right into every day that is is coming against us. And so Peter says prepare your minds for action and keep sober or serious in your spirit. This word is also used in the last chapter 1 Peter 5:8 he says just be sober in spirit be on the alert.
Be sober; be on the alert. Your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
And then he says your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Here is the nature of satan: he is a real person who is out to destroy your life. He is out to destroy your children, your marriages, your grandkids, and he's out to destroy this church. It is a spiritual warfare. Growing in grace and and experience in this process of of spiritual maturity is not an easy task--it is a serious sober minded thing. That's what Peter is warning them about, and he has experienced that himself with the believers he is addressing here have gone through a great amount of suffering. Modern day church in America has experienced a lot less of that suffering then what we find in other places in this world, but we still face spiritual warfare here. We can blame the devil, we can blame the world, the circumstances around us, the world system, that stands in opposition to YHWH. However, we also know that there's another thing that we face not just from the outside temptation and stress but on the inside— the reality of our nature--my flesh.
In verse 13 of our passage, he speaks about this spiritual battle.
Therefore, when you have prepared your minds for action by being self-controlled, put your hope completely in the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
He talks about preparing your mind - the war no one sees. In other words, you're ready to run, you're ready to do battle-- you prepare your mind. This is where the battle is: in the mind. You heard the expression, “sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap the character. Sow a character, reap a destiny.” The spiritual battle that we face is in the mind. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but powerful to God for the tearing down of fortresses, tearing down arguments and all pride that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
When Paul writes the book of Philippians, he keeps talking about the mind—right thinking—because how we think is going to determine how we behave, and how we behave usually determines how we feel. Most people start with their feelings. Their emotions respond to those spiritual battles and spiritual growth can begin in that battlefield of the mind.
One of the most helpful passages for me as in Romans chapter 7. In chapter 6, he talks about how sanctification works. Then chapter 7 is about the warfare you will experience. Chapter 8 then talks about the glorious victory that we have with the identification in Christ. It's heavy doctrinal stuff, but it's just the kind of thing we need to be involved in reading. But in chapter 7, he describes the internal struggle in the Christian life. he says:
For I know that good does not live in me, that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but the evil that I do not want to do, this I do. But if what I do not want to do, this I am doing, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that lives in me. Consequently, I find the principle with me, the one who wants to do good, that evil is present with me. For I joyfully agree with the law of God in my inner person, but I observe another law in my members, at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that exists in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
For those of you have read that before, you know the answer is:
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself with my mind am enslaved to the law of God, but with my flesh I am enslaved to the law of sin.
Christ gave me the victory! But one the most spiritual godly, men in the New Testament, the apostle Paul, is struggling. That is helpful to know that I am not alone in my thought life-- it doesn't take away my struggle— but it does help me to realize that this is a normal part of the Christian life: intense spiritual warfare.
Transition:
It comes from the outside, it comes from the inside-- that is the challenge we face. Second is: The Transformation that We Need
II. The Transformation that We Need
II. The Transformation that We Need
1 Peter 1:14 says
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former desires you used to conform to in your ignorance,
This word, conformed, conformity; don't be molded, fashioned, or pressed into the mold of this world. So it is not conformity, its transformation. There's a difference between the outward pressures that come in your life and the inner work that YHWH is doing. In other words, your spiritual growth works from the inside out-- it has to work from the inside out.
When we look at our children, we look at the next generation of young people, that somehow YHWH has to ignite a spiritual passion and a desire--a working that goes to the heart. So when they're little, we direct them, and do things for them. That's what the law does - it directs us. You can direct your kids toward the right thing, but at some point they must develop and have the desire for YHWH coming from within them. And that's what we pray for, that is what I desire—for God to do the to work in them. Paul says this in Romans 12:1-2
Therefore I exhort you, brothers, through the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may approve what is the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God.
Don't be conformed/ pressed into the mold of the world; rather, be transformed. How? by the renewing of your mind. Good, acceptable, and perfect— that was always the teaching of Jesus. He was concerned, not so much about the cleanliness of the outside of the cup. He taught to clean the inside of the “cup” and the outside will be clean. That's what His focus is.
Transition:
So the challenge we face, the transformation we need. Now I'm already in my last point because this is my most important one:
III. The Path We Must Take
III. The Path We Must Take
How does the believer grow? What do we engage in? 1 Peter 1:15 says
but as the one who called you is holy, you yourselves be holy in all your conduct,
“… in all your behavior.”
YHWH does not pull passive people through sanctification; we must be engaged in the process. In the whole book of first Peter, there are 4 ways you must be engaged to grow. Write these down, these are very exciting!
1. We must engage with the Spirit
1. We must engage with the Spirit
1 Peter 1:2 says
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and for sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
“By the sanctifying work of the Spirit”
You will never spiritually grow apart from the Spirit of God. If you're dead, you can't grow! The Holy Spirit does the work of causing you to grow. You must receive Christ as savior, you must engage with the spirit working in your life.
Peter goes on to say:
“For obedience”
To obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood... So how as a Christian, do I daily engage with the Spirit? Galatians 5:25
If we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit.
Okay we're Christians, so let us keep in step with the spirit. The Greek word here for “follow” had the same usage as Roman soldiers to describe a line of soldiers. And if you have one soldier on the front end that is leading with step, then everyone else in line follows that step— soldiers marching. Same concept that if we live in the Spirit/ by the Spirit, you keep in step with the Spirit. Every day the Holy Spirit is going to direct your life, not just in a general sense, it is a step in step by step.
In every single way, I am sensitive to the fact that the Holy Spirit lives in me. He will never leave me or forsake me, and He will direct every step of my life. For me to live a successful Christian life and to grow in my faith, I have to keep in step with the Spirit. So that's one usage, the other usage of follow is to describe a dance partner. In other words you dance--if my wife was willing, I would demonstrate for you right now. But that same word in that ancient culture society was to stop and lead a step, take a step, follow in step. It's not just a general, “well, I read my versus for the day, and I'm just done for today” We engage in our devotions, then we disengage when we go out the door. You must engage with the spirit like a soldier in step—like a dance partner the Holy Spirit leading the dance of your life.
So that's first: we engage with the Spirit. Second, we must:
2. Engage with His Word
2. Engage with His Word
1 Peter 1 verse 23
because you have been born again, not from perishable seed but imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
First Peter 2 verses one to 3
Therefore, ridding yourselves of all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn infants long for the unadulterated spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation, if you have tasted that the Lord is kind,
Peter is saying that the Word of God is indispensable for your spiritual growth. You cannot grow without it and without the Spirit. We are to be engaged on a daily basis with the Word of God-- not just reading a verse in the morning, it means you read it often, you study it, you think about it/meditate on it, you carry it around with you-- it becomes a part of your natural life. God's Word begins to shape you and change your mind/you're thinking, and then your life.
I love my mom. My mom is a supreme example in my life of this power of the Word in spiritual growth. We went through some pretty difficult times growing up with no money. No matter how difficult the challenges, and how frustrated we would all become I would still see my mom faithfully reading the Bible. I would be tempted, then to think, “what good will that do us now?” but today I finally realize the good it did for me.
Ministry is about people and building relationships, and this is what my mom modeled for me. She actually cared about me so much that through the worst of times, she agonized with the Bible open at her side every night and every morning
As a preteen, I thought you know what? I'm not saved, and that day I prayed and trusted Christ as my savior and I really sensed his presence. I love to say that at 12 years old, I turned into a passionate evangelist and walked with God and shared my faith everywhere, but I didn't! I was a “secret agent Christian.” I wasn't vocal about my personal Christian testimony until after I was an adult.
But the Bible changed me!
In 1 Corinthians 10:31, It says.
Therefore, whether you eat or you drink or whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God.
I got under real conviction I started thinking about this as a young adult. My life was so incredibly self absorbed. Everything is about me! What I want to do, I know it's all about me. And I knew when I read that verse, it bothered me. I thought about it and I went on. And after a little bit I prayed repentance. I lived in such a self absorbed life and I prayed that everything I do from this point on is for Christ only. And the next morning, I was different! YHWH started changing my life. Then every time I'm reading something that's convicting, I’m constantly confessing my sins, and I'm saying, “Father, I want to obey You, and I want to follow You! Then I'm starting to tell my family friends about what God is doing in my life, and people are say what's going on? I had never experienced before that the Holy Spirit taking the Bible and convicting my life about truth that I needed to respond to in obedience. I started growing and I was excited about what God was doing in my life, and I felt like sharing it with other people. I had never before to this point spoken about God in public or private. I still get nervous with public speaking. When I speak, I still to this day get butterflies in my stomach, but now they fly in formation.
The reason I share that is to demonstrate the power of God's Word to change a life. I still believe that, and I still trust in the power of the Word of God to change your life. There's nothing that will help someone else then to see what's happening in you. For those of you that have been saved for a long time, I challenge you to stay engaged. Don't rest on what you've learned in the past. Allow God's word and His Spirit to be convicting you and teaching you you, challenging you, and moving you, and changing you even if you are an old believer. Then your ministry becomes an overflow into everyone else's life. The Bible is powerful to change you, and change others.
So we engage with the Spirit, we engage with His Word. Third, we must:
3. Engage with His body, the church
3. Engage with His body, the church
The Greek word for church. Ecclesia. a gathering or assembly. The English word “Church” came from a Germanic word that refers to a building. We know that Ecclesia is not a building. David black, a Greek scholar, said that the best English word to translate Ecclesia is community -- it is people together. 1 Peter 2:4-5
to whom you are drawing near, a living stone rejected by men but chosen and precious in the sight of God. And you yourselves, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
You are a stone of many stones building up a spiritual house. God has designed your spiritual growth to take place in the context of community. Even in first Corinthians.
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God with your body.
He's not talking about my physical body only. He is talking about this local body of believers—all of us. We are collectively that witness.
What a thought! Do you not know that this body of believers, here at Grace is a temple of the Holy Spirit? We are to glorify God in this church together. In fact, in the eastern countries, an ancient practice and still is in most countries, people do everything together. You don't have your own personal private devotions-- everybody does everything together. That was really the culture of Jesus time. The American Church has become too independent--we just kind of service our personal needs. We are not engaged we're not connected with each other. The way that Jesus describes the church is not an event or a place we attend. It is rather a community where you are involved contributing, and people are contributing to you and there's accountability. We must be engaged in the lives of other believers, and (perhaps more challenging) we need to allow other believers to be engaged in your life. You need to be accountable to them, and they need to be accountable to you--that's your responsibility. We have a lot of “solo” Christians today: “I don't need the church. I don't need that to be a Christian” it is very self-centered with no accountability. God is designed this body to function in the way where everyone is going to grow.
So engage in the Spirit, Engage in the Word, engage the body, His church. Then finally (this is the most fun) you must
4. Engage with your trials
4. Engage with your trials
You don't grow without trials. First Peter 1:6-7
in which you rejoice greatly, although now for a short time, if necessary, you are distressed by various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more valuable than gold that is passing away, but is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
The times where I’ve grown in Christ and is usually been the times of great trial. The testing of your faith. Realize that when YHWH allows out of His sovereign hand, a test in your life, it is for good. He is doing this for His Glory & your good. He is doing this test to advance His gospel. He is doing this for your growth into maturity and develop a dependence upon Him. You don't grow without testing. One of the greatest teaching moments are working through the times of testing. Testing in various kinds, all forms, and Peter is speaking to a church that is going under severe persecution. We have to engage every trial with thanksgiving to YHWH: “Lord, thank You for this test. Help me not to waste it. Honestly, my first prayer is for relief, deliverance, a quick escape. A prayer for God to correct all the pain, and the suffering, the problems, and make everything smooth again. But why doesn't God do that? Well, one reason is that YHWH knows what is better for You. The unspoken principle seems to be: the older we get or more mature, the more severe the test. God is at work in us, shaping us.
We are engaged in an intense spiritual warfare. Every day, we're engaged in warfare. Satan wants to pounce on you every single day, he wants to destroy your life. Satan can't take away your being--there's nothing he can do to take away your position in Christ. There's nothing Satan can do to rob you of your salvation. He can make you miserable. Satan wants that struggle—even if he can't take away your soul, or your eternal destiny, he certainly will try to destroy your joy, cause you to worry and be anxious. He has set out to destroy us and he has this world--this world's system that is constantly oppressing the believer.
So What?
So What?
So be who you are
The danger is with those who've been saved for many years, is that we disengage, we coast. We get a lot of knowledge with all the major doctrines. We know all the books of the Bible. We know all the right spiritual answers. But you're really not engaged. We have the clutch to the floor.
In Conclusion:
My prayer is that as much as I appreciate my position in Christ--who I am, being holy the way this passage is calling me: to engage, to be obedient, to follow, to be serious minded, to engage in the process of God shaping my life by His Spirit, by His Word, by the church, and by my trials. That we may come to full maturation to the praise of His glory. My prayer is that at this point in our lives, that we continue to grow--It doesn't end. Thank God He is still at work, He still convicts me, He's still changes me until the day I die. So don't coast. Don't put in the clutch. Be engaged. Holiness is a process. God is working in your life. And my prayer is that when God starts changing you, He’ll start changing the others around you--that's what happens. That is the fruit of His work.